


Oh, Instincts Are Misleading

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 08:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He knows that he should go out and have a good night with his sort of almost boyfriend. That's the normal, smart thing to do. But when he sees her slumped on the couch, all dressed up with nowhere to go, he just can't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh, Instincts Are Misleading

"Hey, are you on your way?" Roxy chirps brightly into her phone, which is sandwiched between her ear and her bare shoulder, exposed by the strapless dress she's wearing as she tugs on one bejeweled black heel. She looks like Marilyn Monroe, which Dirk knows is the point, but he allows himself a moment to admire his best friend regardless, because even he will freely admit that she is positively stunning. Especially when she's sober and happy. "You.. what?" her voice wavers slightly and Dirk frowns, but just assumes Cronus is running late, and resumes his own preparations for the night. It's Valentine's Day, which he normally doesn't care for, but tonight he had a sort of date with a friend with benefits, who was probably about to become his boyfriend. Roxy had a date with Cronus and some of their friends. Dirk didn't like or trust the greaser kid as far as he could have thrown him, but Roxy seemed to like him, so he let them be. 

"No! You can't, not right now!" her voice cracks harder again, and she's ceased her efforts to buckle her shoes, slumping over on the sofa, pink taffeta crinkling around her. "God, I can't fucking believe you! I should have listened to Dirk!" she spits the words out and huffs loudly and her phone clatters to the ground. From the bathroom, Dirk hears a sniffle and her phone being picked up again. 

"Hey Tula... No um, I'm actually calling to cancel. I'm so sorry. No, no it's uh, it's fine. I... Yeah. Okay. Have a nice night with 'Tuna, okay? Aight. Later." she sighs heavily as she hangs up the phone and leans back in the couch cushions. What a righteous fucking asshole, she thinks bitterly. People don't dump people on Valentine's day, that's just... wrong. She sighs again and dials another number. 

"Hey Janey. Listen I was- Oh, you're getting ready to go out? I thought you were staying home tonight. You and Jake made up? Oh Janey, I'm so glad. No no, it was nothing. Have a good night, kay? Love you." She drops her phone onto the couch and stares at her face in a pocket mirror she'd picked up. "What a fucking waste of a great hair day." she grumbles to the air. She pulled off her shoes and they fell to the floor with a clunk and she stared despondently at her fresh pedicure. She'd been so excited to have a night on the town with her boyfriend and good friends for a holiday she usually spent bitter and drunk, but now she was single and looking to do the same as always. She couldn't even drag Dirk into her pity party. Even he had a date. 

In the bathroom, Dirk fidgeted with his tie, guilt eating at his stomach from two directions. On one hand, ditching his date on today of all days would be incredibly shitty, but on another hand, leaving his best friend the recovering alcoholic alone and freshly dumped on a romantic holiday was just as shitty and probably unsafe. he shook his head to clear his thoughts and slipped his shades on. He was going on. He would go out and have a great night and maybe get laid and make sure he remembered to bring something home for Roxy and then spend all day with her the next day. A perfect compromise. He nodded, checking his hair again, and left the bathroom feeling confident and resolved to his plan. Until he actually saw Roxy. 

She still had on her pink dress, her hair done in neat pin curls, he remembered watching her set them carefully the night before so she could sleep on them, her lips filled with red, and her mascara already smudged down her face as she stared down into her phone's screen, blinking rapidly. Fuck, he thought, clenching a fist in his pocket. The logical thing to do, he knew, was go out. Roxy was a strong young woman, just because she was sad didn't mean she would fall apart without him around. He knew if he asked her, she would tell him to go out and 'get some' with a smile on her face and a dry, fake laugh in her throat, and he's not sure if the fact that he knows she'll lie to his face about wanting him to stay makes him feel better or worse about the whole situation. But once again, he resolved himself to go out. 

"Hey." she calls out, voice cracking even as she tries to hie it with a cough. He raises an eyebrow at her. "Have a good night for me, kay?" she smiles, but it is thin and shaky. Dirk nods, but his resolve is shattered. 

He knows canceling his date is a bad idea. Picking one relationship over another is always a bad idea. So he nods and kisses her forehead and squeezes her shoulder, pretending not to hear her choke down a sob. But as soon as he's at his car he calls his date. 

"Hey, Luke. I'm really sorry, But I've got to cancel. No no, nothing like that. I just don't think I can leave my roommate alone in good faith. Hm? Oh she just got dumped. Yeah. Wait, what? No, dude, that's not the situation at all. Luke, we aren't even actually dating. I... you know what? If you want this to be a choice, I'll make it a fuckin' choice! It wasn't meant to be, but now it is because that's what you want. And I choose her, because my best friend of ten years means a helluva lot more to me in the long run than a friend with benefits. Bye."

With a heavy sigh, Dirk bent into his car. he told Roxy he was leaving so he might as well run to the store, however crowded it would be, and pick something up to boost her spirits. He could already hear strains of Roxy's sad music of choice, the album Transatlanticism, leaking loudly from the door. He still felt like staying in with his best friend when he could have been on a date seemed illogical, but he supposed that you had to follow your heart at least sometimes. 

He had been right, the store was absurdly crowded with single and not so single people buying last minute gifts and candy and booze for any number of purposes. Dirk braced himself and fought his way to the ice cream displays. At a moment's glance, he spotted his target and snagged it. A pint of Half Baked Ben and Jerry's. Not satisfied, he decided to pick up the inevitably already on sale Valentine's day candy. And maybe a little stuffed cat holding a heart with 'LUV U' embroidered on it in gold thread. because he really did feel shitty for even thinking about leaving her alone. She deserved better than that, and she definitely deserved better than Cronus 'Living Breathing Pond Scum' Ampora. He didn't want to encourage her drinking, so he didn't want to ruin the fun of the evening, so on his way to self checkout he snagged a bottle of pink sparkling lemonade. That was festive, right? The line to check yourself out was blessedly short, so before he knew it he was back int he driveway of their shared apartment. he could still hear the same album playing as he went up the short set of stairs and knocked out of habit before throwing it open. 

"Happy Valentine's Day, Rox." he said with a crooked grin, tossing her the stuffed cat. 

"Dirk? What're you doin? You should be out with Luke, having fun." she furrowed her brow but looked down at the cat and smiled, tucking it into the folds of her pink dress she still wore. 

"Luke who? I'm spending tonight with my best girl." he winked as he laid the ice cream and candy out on the table with the bottle of lemonade and walked to the kitchen for cups and spoons. 

"Did you get dumped? I don't need to be your consolation prize right now." 

"Technically, yes. But I got dumped for telling Luke I needed to stay with my best friend tonight. You're nobody's consolation prize, Lalonde. You're the Olympic gold."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't set out to choose you over him, but he made it all about that and I decided if he wanted me to choose I would. And my best friend of ten years is a helluva lot more important than some booty call who will stop calling me in a month." he shrugged and carried of Roxy's martini glasses, the nice ones with her initials monogrammed in gold, and a pair of spoons to the coffee table, snagging the remote in his hand before flopping down beside her on the sofa and looping an arm around her shoulder. Roxy grinned, trying to pretend she wasn't blinking back tears, and wrapped her arms around Dirk's chest. 

"God you're the best." she mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt. "The cat is cute." she said after she pulled away, settling it on her lap again. She leaned down to her laptop, pausing the music and settling herself into Dirk's side as he flipped the TV to cartoon network. Pulling the lid and seal off the ice cream, he extended it to Roxy and they spent the next few hours curled up with cartoons, stuffing their faces and making pointless toasts with the pink bubbling lemonade. When they finally ran out of ice cream, Roxy glanced at her phone for the time. 

"Well, we haaaave... fifteen minutes of Valentine's Day left. What do you wanna do? Go kick Cronus's ass? TP Jake and Jane's house while they're getting it on? Eat more chocolate?" she raised her eyebrow. 

"You know. It would be a shame to let that dress of yours go to waste. Not to mention my impeccable tie tying skills." 

"What'd you mean?" she tilted her head at him. He shook his head and stood up, extending a hand to Roxy to help her up. He walked her outside and she followed along, her dress swirling neatly around her knees as she padded down the cold stone steps behind Dirk into the empty parking lot of the complex. As they walked, he fiddled with his phone, before finally turning his volume all the way up and slipping it into the pocket of the waistcoat he wore. Quietly, strains of the song 'Moon River' started playing. The theme from Roxy's favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. He held out a hand. 

"May I have this dance, Miss Lalonde?" he smiled. Roxy beamed and nodded, taking his hand. 

"But of course, Mister Strider." 

She leaned into him comfortably, her arms wrapping around his neck while his wound around her waist, guiding and swaying her gently. The February air was cold, but she didn't mind. Dirk was warm. She smiled wider and shut her eyes as she felt him humming the tune of the song along with it, the rhythm reverberating in his chest. He took her hand from around her shoulder and twirled her out and into him carefully. They continued swaying softly after the music faded to nothing, Dirk still humming the tune to the song. There weren't many stars visible, the night was clouded, promising snow the following day, but some were still there. And Roxy couldn't help but think it was the single most romantic thing anyone had done for her, and it wasn't even intended to be romantic at all. Dirk stopped swaying suddenly and Roxy looked up at him, startled to see him staring at her intently. He leaned down, wrapping her in a hug and resting his chin on her shoulder, right by her ear. 

"Wherever you're goin', I'm headin' your way." he murmured softly, echoing the lyrics of the now silent song. He wasn't sure what prompted him to do what he did next, other than that he knew the fact that it had to mean something that he'd chosen to be here on Valentine's day, chosen to be with Roxy when he could have been anywhere else. Because despite every logical corner of his mind yelling that this was the worst idea ever, the quiet firm voice that spoke from his chest, from his heart, told him it was the right thing to do. So he picked up Roxy's chin, carefully, and kissed her. She tasted like lipstick and chocolate and lemonade and it made him smile. She started at first, freezing up in his arms, but when he made no move to pull away or run, she softened, shutting her eyes, and her eyelashes brushed his face, his shades having been pushed into his hair before they came outside. He pulled away after a moment, still holding onto her face. 

"Dirk?" she asked, her voice quiet and questioning. 

"Yeah?"

"Did you just kiss me?"

"Uh huh."

"So that was real? I'm not dreaming?"

"No, Rox. You're wide awake."

"So does.. that mean you..." she didn't have the courage to finish the sentence. Dirk nodded carefully and leaned down to kiss her again, lifting her off of the ground easily. 

"Happy Valentine's Day, Rox."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Dirk." she answered softly.

**Author's Note:**

> As if I would let Valentine's pass without doing something for at least one of my ships. Title is from Lightness by Death Cab for Cutie (Who obviously I listened to while writing this)


End file.
